


Daunting Expectations

by Nasturtium



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:59:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nasturtium/pseuds/Nasturtium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who decided tests of courage were good ideas?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daunting Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> For [Gege-chan](gege-chan.tumblr.com) on tumblr as part of the rarepair exchange! I vaguely went with your horror prompt + I hope you like it!

“...What are we doing?” Konoha-san asks, arms next to his sides, eyes narrowed and voice weary; it’s clear that he’s regretted the question before he even asks it. (Keiji regrets that Konoha-san asked it as well.)

The question is aimed at Bokuto-san, who asked everyone to meet up in front of the forest with no less than thirty partying emojis added.

It’s Kuroo-san who answers, however, which means the situation is likely worse than they had all previously assumed. “Test of Courage.” He stands next to Bokuto-san, who has his hands on his hips and a smile that is too _satisfied_ with whatever plan they’ve concocted, his own arms crossed over his chest and a taunting _smirk_ hanging across his lips. “We’ve set up the best team bonding time sp-”

A voice interjects, and Keiji looks to his right to find Tsukishima, pushing his glasses up with a finger, the other hand in his pocket, voice the epitome of boredom, “I’m not on either of these teams.”

“We actually wanted Akaashi to come! But you were there, probably doing mushy things with him-”

“Stop.” Keiji says; as much as he admires Bokuto-san, his head is already starting to ache from the direction this is surely heading.

He doesn’t stop. “And we couldn’t just _leave_ you on your own like that! Consider this us giving you pointers for when you’re a third year.” The self satsified grin is now bigger than ever, englufing his face, until a second later it disappears. He jabs a finger in Tsukishima’s direction, “That doesn’t mean we think you’ll be better than our kouhai, though! Fukurodani will crush you!”

Keiji glances at Tsukishima, wondering if he can somehow convey how apologetic he is that this situation had to happen right when he’d come to visit him. He can’t, though, because Tsukishima has moved his unimpressed gaze from Bokuto-san to Kuroo-san, nose scrunched up in a sneer. Charming.

“Did you say a Test of Courage?” Suzumeda has an eyebrow raised, and Keiji is almost thankful she’s here to indirectly be the voice of reason before she catches his eyes, her eyebrows now raised in a question. Sometimes he hates how he understands her enough to understand her strange eyebrow language because it means _she_ understands him well enough to know that he _hates_ anything horror related, would rather toss to Haiba-kun from Nekoma a hundred times than do anything that involves having to face anything that could kill him, even if it’s completely _fake_.

“Yes! We’ll walk through the forest in pairs and scream!” Bokuto-san’s enthusiasm has appeared again, this time directed at Suzumeda. Keiji wonders if his senpai’s soft spot for her will change in their favor.

“Oh. Do we have to?” Suzuemeda-san is a _saint_.

“Kaori-chan! Are you scared? You don’t need to worry. I'll protect you!” Shirofuku-san has materialized next to her, taken a hold of her arm, given her her most puppy looking grin. The mission has already been aborted because Suzumeda _can’t_ say no to her fellow manager’s grin. 

That’s not to say that he’s any better, really; any moment right now, he can just _say_ he’d rather not go through the forest when the sun has already gone on its way, and yet, here he is, standing in silence, his pride keeping him from admitting this fact in the face of Kuroo-san’s smirk and Bokuto-san’s unyielding determination (And, maybe even, in front of Tsukishima….He hates to admit that he’s so _petty_ , but he knows he is.)

Kuroo-san claps his hands once to get the groups’ attention, “The path is pretty simple. You just walk straight through it and make sure not to die.”

“I’m sure no one will die.” Kai-san says with his head tilted up, maybe looking at the stars, maybe pondering his life decisions.

“....Fine, no one _will_ die. Just don’t get too _spooked_ . You don’t need to hide behind Lev, Shibiyama-kun. We’ll make sure nothing hurts you.” If only Kuroo-san always operated in his _Good, Helpful Senpai_ mode. “If you need to get out, just call our phones and Bokuto and I will come get you.” Incredible. “Now! Who wants to go first?”

 

* * *

 

Tsukishima and Keji had been the last pair to go in, something about them scaring any ghosts off with nothing but their unimpressed gazes.

They walk in silence for a few minutes, Tsukishima with his hands back safely in his pockets, eyes looking ahead, and Keiji trying not to jump at the cracking sounds of the fifty twigs he must have stepped on during their journey so far.

So far so good; they haven’t died or even met any ghosts yet.

Maybe it’s fine to talk.

Keiji clears his throat, shifts closer to Tsukishima, “....Sorry they dragged you into this.”

Tsukishima spares him a look before he looks back up front. “....It’s fine. We can go out another time.”

“With less forests?”

“And ghosts.”

His brain short circuits. “Ghosts?” He asks, eyes darting back and forth, head turning around; there’s nothing to be seen.

“....Supposed ghosts, I mean. Akaashi-senpai?” Tsukishima is confused, and this is not really how it was supposed to go.

“Right. That’s...great. We’re the last ones anyways. If someone hadn’t made it out, we would’ve been alerted.” Unless Bokuto-san and Kuroo-san had been taken as well….Now, this is delving into the realm of _highly unlikely_. No ghost would want to kidnap them. “No ghosts.”

Tsukishima doesn’t seem to be convinced with the casual act, but shrugs anyways. Keiji lets out a quiet sigh of relief, though what it’s for he can’t really tell.

The relief is only momentarily; something cold clasps at his hand, and Keiji jumps as far as he can, only to feel the hand still gripping onto him. He looks at it, follows it up to its arm, up to its owner's face, up to Tsukishima’s lips, quirked to the side, finding this whole thing _amusing_.

“I didn’t know you were afraid of _ghosts_ , senpai.”

“Listen.” He starts, fingers intertwining with Tsukishima’s, “Everyone has their fear, no matter _how_ irrational.”

Tsukishima seems to consider that before he continues walking, Keiji moving to keep up with him. He's silently for a few minutes, before, “Geese have teeth.”

“Geese….?” He looks quickly to the side to see if maybe they’d encountered a _goose_ of all things. There is nothing but _more trees, j_ ust barely letting in the moonlight, not the ideal place for birds to be up and about.

“They’re not actually teeth like the ones we have,” He continues, as if there is no interruption. “But they look similar to them.” His voice seems to be lowering, lowering, lowering, until it just _stops_.

“What are you-” The realization dawns on him, and he can’t help the snort that comes out, “You’re scared of _geese_?” He feels a grin crawling over his face. He squeezes his hand once. “That’s….Interesting.”

“You’re scared of _ghosts_ .” Tsukishima huffs, looking anywhere _but_ at Keiji. (It’s kind of _cute_ .) “At least geese are _real_. And corporeal.”

“.... _Geese_.” He shakes his head.

More minutes later, these ones filled with a little less of the sense of despair.“ _Thanks_ , by the way.”

Tsukishima pushes his glasses back in place again, and at this point Keiji isn’t sure if he _actually_ needs to do that, or if he simply does it to avoid things. “It’s nothing. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t-”

“Did you see that?” Tsukishima interjects, coming to a stop. Is he changing the topic? That’s not going to shake him so easily.

“See _what_?” He asks, eyes narrowed at Tsukishima, who simply points next to them.

Keiji’s gaze follows his finger, sees where its pointing at, _what_ it's pointing at. A figure of…. _Someone_ , all in white, holding what looks like a flag.

His blood runs cold, and his feet run _forward_.

Tsukishima’s hand is still grasping his, and it must’ve taken him a moment to register their current plan of action because he’s _dragging them down_ . “ _Hurry_!”

Tsukishima speeds up, and they’re running further and further into the forest. Is the figure still behind them? Are they in the clear? He doesn’t want to look back to see, doesn’t know how he’d feel if the figure (Ghost, ghost, _ghost_.) was directly behind them.

 

Minutes later and they’re _out_ and into the clearing, the moon back to shining right over them. Thank God for grueling volleyball practices. Though, maybe Tsukishima can’t say the same, panting as he is bent down, hands on his knees. “I think,” He says, in between gasps of air, “We’re safe.”

Keiji drags an arm over his forehead, wiping off the sweat as he turns around, eyes narrowing at the entrance of the forest. “Yeah.” He _hopes_ so, anyways.

He moves around in a circle, trying to notice anyone. “They must all still be inside.” He says, heart rate decreasing just a little.

Tsukishima plops onto the ground, lies down on his back. Keiji takes a seat next to him, rubbing at his eyes. “That was…” He trails off, are words really needed now? Maybe not, but he _does_ want to forget the whole thing happened for the next few seconds.

Tsukishima lifts a hand, motions towards himself with a finger, and Keiji slowly leans down, head hanging over his boyfriend’s. The hand reaches up, pulls his head down towards him, smashing their lips in a quick, messy kiss before pulling before pulling back. “Stop panicking; it’s getting _weird_.”

Keiji blinks a few times; this isn’t what he had in mind, but whatever, he's not going to argue. “If that’s how you want it.” He leans back down, already continuing the kiss.

There was no harm in just staying like this, other than the high probability of his back starting to _ache_ anytime soon _,_ was there?

* * *

 (To: Bokuto

 

They ran away past everyone! Can you believe that? There go our resident scary men.

 

To: Konoha

 

Must have been your act!! So convincing!! First you pretend not to care!! Then you become a ghost!! Have you considered acting?

 

To: Bokuto

  
This conversation is now Over.)


End file.
